


Lucky

by azurefishnets



Series: Ghost Trick: Phantom Train (A Final Fantasy/Ghost Trick Crossover AU) [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VI, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff, Multi, They're all very lucky to have each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 06:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16470662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurefishnets/pseuds/azurefishnets
Summary: Many years after the fall of the jester's tower, Cabanela's nights are still haunted.Set in the Ghost Trick/FFVI AU





	Lucky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Siver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siver/gifts).



Alma woke in the deep silence of the far-too-early morning. All was still, too early even for bird-song. She lay, unmoving, for a moment—Jowd was his usual gently whuffling furnace-self next to her. It would have been easy to sink back into sleep. Warm and drowsy, she almost did. On the very edge of falling, however, she heard it: a long, quiet exhale, the telltale sound of breath held for a moment, then a slow inhale and another held breath.

She sat up and looked over the bulk of her husband to the spot in which Cabanela should have been dreaming his usual restless dreams. The bed, however, was empty. She peered carefully over Jowd, trying not to wake him up. Cabanela sat on the floor, a tangle of arms and legs drawn into each other. He had his face in his hands; his shoulders were twitching.

Quiet and careful, she swung her legs out of bed and padded around to the other side. “Bad dreams?” she asked gently.

Cabanela looked up from his hands, and that’s when Alma realized he was chuckling, and maybe, just a little bit, on the verge of panic. “I dooon’t remember, but, ah, I fell out of the bed.”

Alma’s eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. She was sure there was more to it, but all she said was, “I see. Do you need help up, old man?”

“Ooooold?! Baby, I’m three years younger than you and Jowd!” Cabanela’s eyes flashed with indignation.

“You are not, you liar.”

“If I don’t remember them, I didn’t live them, baby.”

Alma’s lips tightened for a brief second, but she let that go. Sometimes her two men had inconveniently similar senses of humor, but maybe it was better to be able to joke about it occasionally, even though the quip was bleak.

“Well, get off the floor at least,” she said, “and I’ll make us some tea.”

“Oh, nooo, you don’t, baby,” said Cabanela, scrambling up. “I remember the last time _and_ the time before that. Iiii’ll make the tea.”

Alma rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but agree that Cabanela’s brewing-up skills were vastly superior to her own. She sat while Cabanela fussed with the tea-making implements, but as soon as the steaming cup was placed in front of her, she said, “Why don’t we go outside?” She knew Jowd could and would sleep through little noises, but she wanted some fresh air.

A quick lift of the eyebrows, but Cabanela shrugged. He poured the tea back into a small ceramic pot with a seal and grabbed two heavy mugs. As an afterthought, Alma grabbed the bottle of spirits she kept in the cupboard and they tiptoed through the door.

The night air bloomed with the smell of roses carefully tended. Roses climbed up the cottage walls and spread at their feet. With the ease of long practice, Alma and Cabanela dodged thorns and climbed up the stairs at the back of the house to their usual place on the roof.

They sat. Poured tea and a little drop of something extra. Sat for a time in silence. Finally, Alma broke it.

“Ready to talk about it?”

“No, not really,” Cabanela said, but with sudden ferocity he flung the dregs of his tea leaves out in an arc to spatter off the roof. “It’s the saaaame thing as always. _He’s_ here and I’m _there_ and the three of you are coming for me.” He dropped his head back into his hands. “Weeks now and it’s the same dream, baby. The damn jester still has sooome part of my head’s real estate.”

Alma, cautious, put a hand on his shoulder, and when he didn’t shake it away, slid it across, massaging the tense spots one-handed until he leaned into her touch. She leaned her head to his.

“It was a terrible time for you,” she said, “and I’m amazed that you ever forgave us.”

He stared at her, open-mouthed. “Forgive? Baby, yooou had nothing to forgive. I was the lucky one that you let me back into your lives.”

Alma shook her head, “How long has it been, and you still believe that?” She kissed him on the cheek. “I wish you’d accept that none of us were blameless in how we handled the situation. Jowd and I, we’re the lucky ones.” Her eye was caught by something. “Look!”

Cabanela glanced upward just in time to see the long shooting star stream across the sky. “Beautiful.”

Alma leaned into him. “As you are to us.”

“Well.” Cabanela sat in silence for an instant. “Maybe we’re all lucky together, baby.”

They sat for a longer time in companionable silence, until the sky began to lighten.

“Will you come back to bed?” Alma said, at last. “Get a little more sleep?”

“I suppoose, if it would make you happy, your highness.”

She shoved him with a playful shoulder as they helped each other up, joints aching and a little stiff from sitting on a cold, hard roof for hours. “Yes, well, _your grace_ , maybe it would.”

They climbed down the stairs, replaced the tea, the mugs, the bottle, and Alma watched as Cabanela climbed back in bed. She went back to her side when she was sure he was in and comfortable. As she slid back into the warmth of Jowd, Cabanela whispered, almost inaudible, “I love you.”

“And I, you.”

“And I love you both,” Jowd rumbled. “So, _please_ , go back to sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> This particular piece of fluff is dedicated to Siver with thanks; her lovely and comforting Fictober writings combined with a conversation on the GT Discord banged some synapses together in my mind and they wouldn't quit sparking until I wrote this. Enjoy (you sap).


End file.
